Franciska Rosenkilde (born 19 March 1976) is a Danish geographer and politician who has been the leader of The Alternative since February 2021, replacing Josephine Fock. Alongside five other members of The Alternative, Rosenkilde was elected to the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

in November 2022.

Education and civil career

Rosenkilde has a professional bachelor's degree in health and nutrition from Metropol University College, which she studied from 2006 to 2010. In 2012, she began a master's degree in geography from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, which she completed in 2015. Rosenkilde wrote her master's

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

food system The term food system describes the interconnected systems and processes that influence nutrition, food, health, community development, and agriculture. A food system includes all processes and infrastructure involved in feeding a population: growi ...

s and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Prior to her political career, she worked as a chef and as a mediator of diet and lifestyle.

Political career

Rosenkilde became a member of The Alternative in 2014 after a political debate in the party at Bremen Teater. In 2017, she was elected to the

Copenhagen City Council The Copenhagen City Council (Danish: ) is the municipal government of Copenhagen, Denmark, and has its seat at Copenhagen City Hall. The city council is Copenhagen's highest political authority and sets the framework for the committees' tasks. ...

in the

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. Here she sat as a member of the Citizens' Representation and The Alternative's group

chairperson The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

at Copenhagen City Hall until October 2018. In October 2018, after a vote in The Alternative in Copenhagen, Rosenkilde was elected to the post of Mayor of Culture and Leisure, after the party's former mayor,

Niko Grünfeld Niko Grünfeld (born 13 March 1975 in Sønderborg) is a Danish politician. He served as Mayor of Culture and Leisure to the Copenhagen Municipality from January to October 2018 for The Alternative (Denmark), The Alternative political party, which ...

, had resigned. She received 97 votes out of 188.

Party leadership

At an extraordinary national meeting, on 7 February 2021, she was elected by party members to become political leader of the Alternative. Four candidates ran, and Rosenkilde received 260 votes out of a total of 471.

References

Living people 1976 births The Alternative (Denmark) politicians Politicians from Copenhagen 21st-century Danish women politicians Danish geographers Mayors of places in Denmark Women mayors of places in Denmark Leaders of political parties in Denmark Members of the Folketing 2022–2026 Women members of the Folketing {{Denmark-politician-stub